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Thrifty hire utes were driven by men in orange or yellow shirts. And then we were out the other side where there was a hill of grey rock going off to the right and a small hill where the pipeline ended. Past that were giant metal poppet heads – the things that haul gold miners and their gold in and out of the ground.
    â€˜Down here,’ said Robin, pointing to the left of the edge of town, where fibro houses sat on flat dusty blocks. ‘That one.’ She pointed at a red wooden house with red tin roof and red tin fence. I pulled up in front and turned off the engine and started to open my door.
    â€˜I’ll be an hour,’ she said as she got out.
    â€˜Is this about the petrol station?’
    She looked at the house.
    â€˜The other car came. If it hadn’t, I would have...’
    â€˜I’ll give them the invoice, and say hello. You should look around town. It’s very historic.’ She spoke like a computer. ‘It has the largest open pit in the world, right on the edge of town. Three and a half kilometres long and one and a half kilometres wide. When I left school it was six hundred and fifty metres deep.’ Her back was to me. ‘There’s a museum. The whole history of the gold rush and the continuing resources boom.’ She started walking away.
    A girl in her late teens and a floral dress opened the door and looked at Robin and then over her shoulder at me coming up the path behind.
    Robin said, ‘Liz.’
    â€˜Robin. What are you doing here?’ It wasn’t exactly a welcome. Then she looked at me and said, ‘Hi.’
    â€˜How ya doing?’ I smiled at Liz and ignored Robin.
    â€˜Come in,’ said Liz, when Robin didn’t make any introductions. ‘You must have left early.’
    â€˜Last night,’ I said.
    She led us up the passageway to the lounge room where another teenage girl sat on the floor with two toddlers and two babies and piles of nappies in front of the TV.
    â€˜Robin,’ said the other girl, excited. ‘Oh,’ she said seeing me. Then, ‘You must have left early.’
    â€˜Last night,’ said Robin, beating me to it.
    â€˜Hi everyone. My name is Zac. And I’m really, really glad to meet Robin’s sisters.’
    Robin dumped herself down on the lounge.
    â€˜I’m Gail,’ said Gail.
    â€˜Liz,’ said Liz.
    â€˜Zac again,’ I said and they both smiled while all of us waited for Robin to jump in. An American evangelical talked on the TV. You couldn’t quite hear the words but you could see the urging.
    Gail said, ‘Jade, say hello to Aunty Robin.’
    One of the toddlers looked up at both of us and said, ‘Hello Aunty Robin.’
    I gave a secret wave to Jade and she waved back.
    Robin was fishing in her bag.
    Gail and Liz looked at each other, wary.
    â€˜I brought the invoice. That’s why I came.’
    â€˜Oh,’ said Gail, disappointed.
    â€˜It seemed important in your phone call.’
    Liz turned suddenly to look at Gail who wouldn’t meet her eyes.
    Liz created a smile and said, ‘You could have posted it.’
    Robin said, ‘I don’t actually see why you need it. Couldn’t Jack just show you a copy? I mean the stone’s there.’
    â€˜Yes, you’re right,’ said Liz. ‘I don’t know why Gail bothered you.’
    Gail said, ‘You’ve been?’
    Robin said, ‘I went this morning.’ She brought out the invoice. ‘So he sent it to the wrong place. How he got my address I’ll never know, but it’s hardly...’
    Gail sat next to Robin, and said, ‘She wasn’t thinking. In the end, she...’
    Liz said, ‘It’s because you’re the oldest. That’s all. We’ll take care of it, Robin.’ There was an edge to it under the tight smile.
    Liz and Gail didn’t look or act younger than Robin. They seemed like mums – like my mum and my